Massachusetts funds conversion of cranberry bogs into wetlands
The Massachusetts Division of Ecological Restoration is paying cranberry farmers to restore unproductive bogs back to wetlands amid economic pressures on the industry. CBS News highlights a near-complete 30-acre project at the Rhodes family farm in Carver, notes the state has restored more than 500 acres over the past 15 years with another 500 planned, and says the program leverages about $1 million a year in state funding plus other grants to preserve land, improve water filtration, store carbon and boost storm resilience.
Environment
Agriculture
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Some Massachusetts cranberry farmers are restoring their bogs into wetlands
New information:
- Massachusetts has restored over 500 acres of former cranberry bogs in the past 15 years and plans to restore another ~500 acres.
- The state reports roughly 13,250 acres of cranberry farms and allocates about $1 million annually to the Cranberry Bog Program, leveraging additional local and federal grants.
- A specific 30-acre restoration at the Rhodes family farm in Carver is about 95% complete; the 2010 Eel River headwaters project converted 60 acres to wetlands as an earlier example.